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Ok, I have been thinking about an all warbike army possibly led by a warboss and wazzdakka gutsmek. Now I want to know from you guys if it could be a viable army list or if it would be crushed. I want it to be as competitive as possible while everything being warbiker types. What do you guys think?

In before everyone starts arguing about warbikers and the thread gets locked!

Also, 2k of warbikes will get you smooshed against someone playing competitive.

Am I missing something? Whats the deal with warbikers and the arguing?

I'll start by saying I don't run biker lists.

That being said, you have to look at any Ork squad as a klaw-delivery vehicle. The point of the squad is to get the nob and his klaw across the field and into battle where it can throw sweet, sweet S8 hits. My impression is that there's no real way to make a squad of them large enough to get across the field reliably.

I really like the fluff behind bikers, but as long as they're limited to 12 and can't take a painboy they're limited in terms of crunch.

I'm not going to say that Warbikers belong in a competitive tournament army but, they're not as bad as some people are making them out to be. They have mobility, a constant 4+ cover save from shooting, and T4(5) which helps against small arms somewhat. They also have twin-linked strength 5, assault 3 weapons so en masse they pack some shooting punch.

The major downside to doing a biker army is that you'll be outnumbered by most armies you face, and once you get into CC with a dedicated assault unit those bikers will fall apart quickly.

I'd suggest that if this is the route you want to go with your army, then build around a large core unit of fully diversified nob bikers.

If you want a warbiker list, I recommend Lootas, only because they can pop transports which massed bikers will have problems breaking, outside of assaulting it and that means you'll be waiting there for a turn while its squishy IG Vet contents shoot at you.


EDIT: Warbikers aren't horrible, its just that IG MechVets are prevalent and pretty much exist as GW's Nerf of Biker Nobs.

Doctor Optimal wrote: into battle where it can throw sweet, sweet S8 hits. My impression is that there's no real way to make a squad of them large enough to get across the field reliably.

That would be S9 my friend thanks to furious charge

blasto0341 wrote:Am I missing something? Whats the deal with warbikers and the arguing?

There's a large segment of Ork players that really believe other ork units does the "job" better than warbikers. In a sense, they're right and depending on your local meta, warbikers can be tough to field.

Having said that...

Ork biker armies are awesome... the only thing that REALLY can switch 'em off are powers/events that forces LD tests (ei, losing 25% per turn, PBS, etc...).

Here's my basic list:
HQ:
Wazdakka
Warboss on Warbike, PK, Cyborked

Troops:
8x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
8x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
8x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
9x Diversified Nobs w/ Painboy, 3x PK, 4x BC, BP, Cyborked, etc...

Fast Attack:
1x TL Rokkit Deffkopta + Buzzsaw
1x TL Rokkit Deffkopta + Buzzsaw

Elites:
4 x Kommandos with 2 burnas + 1 Snikrot

This lists rocks...

Constant 4+ coversaves for bikers... 4+ armour save... TL Bigshootas (3 shots per at AP5). I've taken down Big Tyranid bugs, terminator squads with just the bikers.

The Nob squads are just mean... I've had a Chaos deathstar assault my Nobs... this consisted of 3 Terminators, 1 Chaos Lord in Termie + ID demon weapon, AND Typhus... The Nob squad wiped out that unit in 2 turns (opponent even assaulted the nob squad with his beserkers after the 1st combat round and the Nob squad feasted on them).

All in all... they're tough, pack a CC punch (nob squad) and can outshoot most armies (moar DAKKA!).

However, there are flaws to this army... they're susceptable to anything that forces leadership tests (tankshock, pinning, PBS, etc) that can run the bikers off the board. The trick with this army to is get the nobs in CC asap. The other 3 warbikers FOCUSes their DAKKA power to one or two targets.

Also another problem is that during objective games, opponents would put the objective markers in terrain (where bikers take dangerous terrain) or put 'em on second/third floor where bikers can't even get them. My solution is to have the kommandos or deffkoptas contest those...

Anyhoo... it may not be "tournament" quality playlist, but it's hella fun.

Sweet thanks! You think snikrot and the kommandos will do fine with 5 of them?

Warbiker list and competitive are two words that don't mesh. While I really like using MSU warbikers they don't scale up when adding more bikers.

General_Chaos wrote:While I really like using MSU warbikers they don't scale up when adding more bikers.

I disagree with this. I think that warbikers scale better in larger sized squads. This aids their shooty potential and helps protect the nob when in CC. A small squad can't mitigate damage from shooting or CC effectively and lacks punch when shooting.

mercer wrote:

Doctor Optimal wrote: into battle where it can throw sweet, sweet S8 hits. My impression is that there's no real way to make a squad of them large enough to get across the field reliably.

That would be S9 my friend thanks to furious charge

Heh, whoops.

blasto0341 wrote:Sweet thanks! You think snikrot and the kommandos will do fine with 5 of them?

It works for me... either to grab objectives that bikers can't get to, or to take out any gunline squads. Either go small units, or max it out... don't go between.

I haven't tried it before, but you can join your normal warboss biker into this unit and come in behind the enemy (Snikrot's AMBUSH rule). Not a great tactic since you can't split off until the next turn... but, I'd like to try it against a gunline army... just watching the other player's face when a S10 PK wrecks/destroys vehicle parking lot would be a "Kodak Moment" for me.